This news item which I read on the day that three British Members of Parliament were granted Legal Aid to fight accusations that they ripped off the public in their expenses. I find this really objectionable. They get paid by the public purse, they ripped off the public purse and now they will be reliant on the public purse to defend their alleged fraud against the public prosecutor who would prosecute them using the public purse? My tax money gets ruined four times over. I mean, this is seriously stupid. What do these political class think?
But to go back to the original point: I quote:
The vice of offering a 'bribe' to state employees in order to accelerate bureaucratic practices is so widespread in Turkey that the government, unable to repress the trend, has instead decided to legalise it. The report comes from daily newspaper Aksham, which said that the government's ethical commission had decided that it would be legal from now on for state employees to accept a backhander of up to 20 Turkish lira (about 10 euros) as a "sign of gratitude". However, a sum in excess of 20 lira or other payments in kind are forbidden. Under the headline "State employees, watch out for this list", the paper publishes a whole series of scenarios outlined in a booklet distributed to those employed by the State. Among them, a nurse cannot accept "a cake" from a patient being treated in hospital, just as other employees cannot accept "melons" or "turkeys before the New Year". The practice of bribing state officials has always been extremely common in the country, not least on account of low wages of around 1,500 lira (750 euros) a month.
Its funny on the face of it, but this is wrong. This is not the right step, this is accepting of bribery and corruption. If the salaries are low, then fix that, not change the entire thing around and legalise bribery. What is this?
Totally unacceptable. I also think that this wont be accepted by the EU in its EU Accession negotiations. Bulgaria had to jump through hoops as well. Mind you, this is the same EU which has not been able to get its accounts signed off. I am seriously sick of these corrupt, incompetent, fraudster wankers subsisting on my taxes and making hay.
Bah!
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